Shortly after The Karate Kid was released in theaters, earning $56 million opening weekend (well surpassing expectations), it was announced that they were going to begin development on a sequel. Columbia Pictures executives have been meeting with screenwriters to pitch their ideas on a sequel. Tonight HeatVision is reporting that screenwriters Cyrus Voris and Ethan Reif, who wrote Kung Fu Panda for Dreamworks Animation, have been tapped to pen the follow-up.

Please Recommend /Film on Facebook

Yesterday Russ wrote about how the box office performance of The Karate Kid would probably lead to a sequel, with a comment from director Harold Zwart saying that ideas have been discussed. Now Deadline has confirmed our suspicions — Columbia Pictures executives are meeting with screenwriters to pitch their ideas on a sequel. It seems logical to me. This one followed the storyline of the original beat by beat, the second film needs to take the Karate Kid and his teacher to Asia… oh wait… they already did that? Read More »

The Karate Kid easily owned the weekend box office in its debut outing, thrashing The A-Team by a margin of two dollars earned for every one taken by Joe Carnahan’s TV revival. With Will Smith’s son Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan earning $56m, well surpassing expectations, do you think there will be a sequel? In 2010 Hollywood, it’s almost certain, even if sequel fatigue is beginning to set in.

Director Harold Zwart says that ideas have been discussed, and now that the returns are in, I’d guess we’ll hear about sequel plans very soon. In the meantime, check out Zwart’s plans after the break. Read More »

In this week’s /Filmcast, David Chen, Devindra Hardawar, and Adam Quigley praise the directorial talents of the Duplass Brothers, decry the way the Hollywood system objectifies women, appreciate the low-budget directing talents of Vincenzo Natali, and fail to get excited for a Les Grossman film. Special guest Katey Rich joins us from Cinema Blend.

You can always e-mail us at slashfilmcast(AT)gmail(DOT)com, or call and leave a voicemail at 781-583-1993. Join us next week on Monday night at Slashfilm’s live page as we review Toy Story 3.

In the /Film discussion post on The Karate Kid, I wrote the following about Jackie Chan’s performance in the film: “Chan is perfect as the grizzled landlord, perhaps because on some level, he’s playing a version of himself, a once-great fighter who is relegated to inflicting his martial arts prowess on teenagers.” Turns out somebody at IGN had a similar line of thinking, and edited together a brief video showing exactly how effective Chan is at destroying children. See it after the jump.Read More »

Harold Zwart’s The Karate Kid hits theaters today and based on the lively reaction of my screening audience, I’m guessing it’s going to be a huge crowd-pleaser this weekend. But is the film any good? Hit the jump for some of my brief thoughts and feel free to leave your own in the comments below.Read More »

What ever happened to the original Karate Kid, Ralph Macchio? Todd Holland‘s latest video for Funny or Die titled “Wax On, F*ck Off” attempts to answer this question and more.

In his new movie, Ralph Macchio faces his toughest challenge yet; to become a Hollywood bad boy. With Karate Kid returning to the big screen, his career fading his friends and family are forced to stage an intervention. In order to re-establish himself in the entertainment industry he hits the streets of Los Angeles to show everyone how tough he can be. Coming soon, “Wax On, Fuck Off”

We’ve seen twotrailers so far for the remake of The Karate Kid, both of which focused pretty heavily on the film’s story. In the runup to the release of the film this week there’s a third trailer, and this one is almost exclusively action, including a street chase scene that is vaguely reminiscent of Ong Bak, though the full thing probably doesn’t have that movie’s over-the-top stunts. Read More »